Ipomoea batatas is a member of the morning glory family Convolvulaceae. This species is grown worldwide and it exhibits a wide range of plant forms and colors. The cultivated members of Ipomoea batatas grown by farmers worldwide are commonly produced for consumption of their nutritious, enlarged storage roots. These types typically produce a fast growing green vine that has a wide variety of leaf shapes ranging from palmate and deeply lobed, to cordate or triangular shaped leaves with no lobes.
Like their edible forms, Ipomoea batatas ornamental sweetpotato (OSP) plants are a heat-loving, drought-tolerant, perennial vine typically grown as an annual. However, ornamental sweetpotato plants are distinguished from the edible cultivated forms in that they possess unique foliage colors, leaf shapes, and growth habits, which have significant value in the ornamental marketplace.
Ornamental sweetpotatoes are desirable in the landscape and ornamental industries because their foliage comes in a wide variety of colors (e.g. pale yellow to dark purple with some exhibiting temporal and individual leaf color variegation patterns) and plant shapes (e.g. mounded and very compact to prostrate and highly spreading). They can be grown in a potted plant and/or mixed planting format, and they have the ability to cover a large space or hang over walls and decorative pots creating brightly colored and textured backdrops in gardens and patios. Most ornamental sweetpotatoes continue to grow throughout the entire growing season and require little maintenance. Moreover, these plants have few insect or disease problems.
To meet the growing horticultural demand for ornamental sweetpotatoes, it is desirable to produce new cultivars of ornamental sweetpotato with new or improved foliage colors, variegation patterns, leaf shapes, and plant architectures. In addition, it would be advantageous to develop cultivars of ornamental sweetpotato exhibiting a more compact growth that do not out-compete other species in mixed containers.
‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ was bred to meet the increasing demand for new ornamental sweetpotatoes. ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ is a compact, non-twining, upright variety producing many short shoots. It is distinguishable from other cultivars by its purple toothed-slightly lobed leaves with a cordate base; a compact habit and erect mounding plant architecture. The purple-toothed leaves of this plant, short internodes, and the plant architecture are what make ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ unique amongst the current ornamental sweetpotatoes in the marketplace. ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ also exhibits very good vigor and is well branched. In greenhouse and field trials conducted since 2012, ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ has been shown to be much less vigorous than Ipomoea batatas ‘Margarita’ (unpatented) and ‘Mackie’ (unpatented) and is suitable for use as a landscape or containerized plant. The production of flowers by ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ is sporadic under short day conditions.
Lineage. ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ (breeding designation NC8105-002ORN) originated from a self-compatible cross between the proprietary Ipomoea batatas breeding lines NC7218-004ORN (the female parent; not patented) and NC7218-004ORN (the male parent; not patented). Botanical seed was harvested from this and other ornamental sweetpotato clones planted in our winter greenhouse-crossing block between September of 2012 and March of 2013 in Raleigh, N.C. NC7218-004ORN resulted from open pollinated seed harvested from the proprietary Ipomoea batatas breeding line NC6688-001 (the female parent; not patented) planted in our summer ornamental trials between June of 2008 and November of 2008. Botanical seed from this family was planted in the greenhouse in February 2012. The first cycle of selection on the population was exercised in the seedling trays and survivors were transferred to a single 6-inch pot, which was then maintained in the greenhouse. Cuttings (2 each) were taken from the plants in April and planted in the field as 2-plant unreplicated plots during early June 2012. The single, individual plant now known as ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ was selected Jul. 30, 2012 based on its combination of exceptional features, and has been propagated asexually since that time.
Asexual Reproduction. Since its selection, Ipomoea batatas ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ has been asexually reproduced in North Carolina predominantly by vegetative propagation of vine cuttings. Successively, there have been five cycles of vegetative propagation, one cycle of tissue culture micropropagation, and multiple vegetative propagation cycles to increase the plant population. Asexual reproduction of ‘NCORNSP-023BWAM’ by cuttings has shown that the unique features of the new cultivar are stable and the plant reproduces true to type in successive generations.